28 August 2016

An overwhelming 71% of the Swiss population would support a nationwide ban on the wearing of veils or any kind of clothing that hides the face in public, according to a survey published on Sunday.

The result is based on responses to a survey that the Sunday newspapers SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche conducted online among 15,824 Swiss voters during last Monday and Tuesday. The idea of a national ban gained 72% support in German-speaking Switzerland and 70% in French-speaking Switzerland. Women approved nearly as much as men.

There was 85% support for the idea in Italian-speaking Ticino, which on July 1 became the first and only of Switzerland’s 26 cantons to introduce a “burka ban” on any face-covering headgear. [swissinfo.ch] Read more